Orbital Collector

The Orbital Collector is a mining facility that can be built only on the equator of a Gas Giant or Ice Giant. Once placed, it automatically gathers all collectable gas-giant resources in parallel and also serves as the export point for those resources. On a normal Gas Giant it produces Hydrogen and Deuterium; on an Ice Giant it produces Hydrogen and Fire Ice. It resembles an Interstellar Logistics Station in function, but it is fixed in place, cannot store Logistics Vessels or Space Warpers, and only works as a destination for remote logistics from stations on other planets.

Its gathering speed starts at 8x, and it is further improved by Vein Utilization. The displayed planet yield is only the raw extraction rate, however, because the collector immediately consumes part of what it mines to cover its own 30 MW power requirement. That fuel consumption is taken proportionally from the mined resources according to their energy values, so the actual output can be much lower than the visible gathering speed suggests. For example, on a Gas Giant with low base yields, a large share of production may be spent on self-powering; on higher Veins utilization levels, the collector becomes far more efficient.

A Gas Giant’s output is usually dominated by Hydrogen, with a smaller amount of Deuterium, while an Ice Giant produces mostly Fire Ice with some Hydrogen. The exact actual output depends on both the planet’s base yield and the collector’s gathering speed. Since the self-power cost is fixed for a given resource mix, upgrading Veins utilization can have a much larger effect on Orbital Collectors than on ordinary miners, especially on low-yield giants.

• Orbital Collectors can only be placed on the equator.
• Collectors must be spaced apart; placing them at the minimum allowed distance lets you fit up to 40 on a single giant.
• To export their products, set the Orbital Collector to remote supply, then set an Interstellar Logistics Station on the receiving planet to remote demand for Hydrogen, Deuterium, and/or Fire Ice.
• The collector cannot be loaded with Logistics Vessels itself; remote Logistics Vessels from other stations must come to it.
• Although the collector has a storage setting, it is not needed for normal operation.
• The resource amounts shown on the planet view are not the final amounts you receive, because self-power consumption reduces the actual yield.
• If you want to judge a giant’s value before building, Veins utilization has a major impact on whether the collector’s output is worthwhile, especially on low-base-yield planets.